Container



Dec.- 8, 1959 v R. L. HAIQ'LI'LEY' ET L CONTAINER Filed Nov. 26 1957 A TO NEY United States Patent 2,916,184 CONTAINER Robert L. Hartley and Marshall B. Honck, Indianapolis,

Ind., assignors to Harper J. Ransburg Co., Inc., Indianapolis, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Application November 26, 1957, Serial No. 699,054 2 Claims. (Cl. 220--69) Our invention relates to an article for receiving trash or other material and which is particularly useful as a container in an automobile for holding various material. The article comprises a suitable container and a flexible weighted pouch surrounding the lower portion of the con tainer. So constructed, the base of the article will adapt itself to the contour of an extended irregular surface upon which it is placed and the container will be stabilized and supported despite the shape of the supporting surface or any sudden movement such as the braking or turning of an automobile.

The invention provides an upstanding rigid container, preferably of sheet metal, to the bottom of which is atfixed a pouch of flexible fabric or other material. The pouch contains a quantity of a heavy inert granular material, such as lead pellets or sand, which surrounds the lower portion of the container. In one embodiment, the center portion of the pouch contains no filler material and the pouch is attached to the fiat bottom portion of the container by sandwiching a portion of the pouch between the bottom of the container and a separate flat plate which may be riveted or otherwise permanently afi'ixed beneath the container. Preferably the shape of the plate coincides with that of the bottom portion of the container, but this is not essential.

The foregoing and other features and advantages of our invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and the appended drawings, in which:

- Fig. 1 is an isometric view of a waste container constructed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional side view of the waste container shown in Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a plan view of one form of pouch used with the invention.

While a preferred form of the article is illustrated and will be described in'detail, it will be understood that various changes and modifications in construction may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of our invention which is set forth only in the attached claims.

Fig. 1 shows a waste container which comprises an upstanding open-topped container 10 made of sheet metal. The bottom of container 10 is substantially a flat rectangle. A flexible weighted pouch 11, which may be made of two identical upper and lower sheets of a heatsealable vinyl plastic as more fully shown in Figs. 2 and 3, is afiixed to the bottom of container 10. Pouch 11, in the embodiment shown, is generally pillow-shaped and has a central rectangular portion 11a formed by heat-sealing the upper and lower plastic sheets together along a ridge 11b. This center portion 11a of pouch 11 contains no filler material and is made to conform in size generally to the outer dimensions of the flat bottom portion of container 10. The outermost edges 110 of the plastic sheets are likewise heat-sealed to provide an annular or ring-shaped outer portion of the pouch.

In order to facilitate construction, a portion of outer edge 11c of pouch 11 may be left temporarily unsealed and through this opening in the pouch a quantity of some heavy inert granular material 12, such as lead pellets, sand or gravel, is inserted to form a ring of such granular material within the pouch as best shown in Fig. 2. The opening in edge 11c may then be sealed to provide a completely enclosed pouch. Preferably the granular material 12 will only partially till the ring-like space provided within pouch 11. If desired, the pouch may be partially filled with a suitable liquid rather than a finely divided solid and the term granular material is used to include liquids as well as solids.

The pouch of granular material is afiixed to the lowermost portion of container 10 by any convenient means so that the quantity of granular material will surround the lower portion of the container and the lower portion of the container will, in elfect, be nested within a surrounding ring of granular material. It has been found that this particular construction permits the flexible pouch of granular material in combination with the bottom portion of the container to conform to the contour of the surface upon which the container may be placed. A wide stable base is thus provided for the container despite the shape of the supporting surface, for example, the seat or floor of an automobile, and the bottom of the container is moulded to its supporting surface to resist any sudden movement, such as braking or turning of an automobile, which might otherwise serve to dislodge or upset the container and its contents.

Where the center portion of the pouch contains no granular material as is best shown in Fig. 2, pouch 11 is attached to the bottom portion of container 10 by placing center portion 11a of the pouch between the bottom of the container and a separate flat plate 13 whose outer dimensions coincide with that of the center portion of pouch 11 as well as the bottom of the container 10. This flat plate and the pouch are permanently secured to the bottom of the container by a plurality of rivets 14, thus providing the desired nesting of the lower portion of the container within a surrounding ring of granular material.

We claim:

1. An article for receiving trash comprising a rigid upstanding container having a flat bottom, a flat plate of the same dimensions as the bottom of said container permanently afiixed to the bottom of the outside of said container, and an extended pouch of flexible material having a center portion of substantially the same dimensions as the bottom of said container and an outer ringlike portion partially filled with an inert granular material, the center portion of said pouch being permanently affixed between the bottom of said container and said plate and said outer ring-like portion of said pouch at all times substantially surrounding and lying in the plane of the outer bottom edge of said container.

2. An article comprising a rigid upstanding container having a fiat bottom, a closed pouch of flexible material having a center portion of the same.dimensions as the flat bottom of said container and an outer tubular portion partially filled with a quantity of inert granular material, said center portion of said pouch being positioned against the bottom of said container, and a rigid plate of the same dimensions as the bottom of said container lying beneath the center portion of said pouch, said plate being permanently affixed to the said pouch and to the bottom of said container in order to position the tubular portion of the pouch and the granular material contained within said pouch into a ring at all times lying in the plane of and surrounding the outer bottom edge of said container.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,219,974 Bellow Oct. 29, 1940 2,755.841 Reinholz July 24, 1956 2,806,131 Palmer Sept. 10, 1957 

